by Joy Loverde
As a caregiver of an aging parent, there may be no question in your mind that the time has come to sell the family 
home. You have enough clear cut evidence that Mom is no longer safe at home. In fact, she’s agreed to move to another location. So why is she digging in her heels at the thought of hiring a real estate agent? Instead, she has plans to try the for-sale-by-owner route as a way to sell her house so she can pocket more of the proceeds. But that may be a mistake, and anyone on the outside looking in will tell you such a do-it-yourself endeavor is likely more work than your parent realizes. And what about the safety feature of letting strangers into the hours to look around?
I only recommend using full service real estate agents for a reason: they are the most qualified to sell your elderly parents’ home for the maximum price. Plus, times have changed, and the older home owner may not realize all that is involved in selling a house.
So what will a full service agent do for your parents? The agent will conduct a walk through to complete a CMA, or Competitive Market Analysis. This will help your parent and the agent determine the most effective list price for the house. The agent will also prepare a customized marketing plan which may include some common marketing methods such as listing on the MLS (Multiple Listing Service), open houses, staging the furnishings, and advertising.
One of the most important and overlooked benefits provided by a listing agent is that they have access to a qualified pool of buyers. The real estate agent will already know certain buyers through their relationships at their brokerage and also the industry network of other agents. This automatically gives your aging parents’ home-sale process high visibility with qualified buyers. This will also help to address the issue of safety. The agent will be able to arrange for professionals to bring prospective buyers into your aging parents home and will help to ensure only interested parties visit and not those looking to take advantage of them.
Real estate agents also offer weekly marketing updates to monitor the progress, help with necessary paperwork, seller negotiation skills and assistance at the closing to make sure everything runs smoothly.
Don’t let your aging parents leave the sale of their house to chance. Spending the necessary time finding the right real estate agent will help them get the most for their home and help keep them safe.
I would love to hear about your experiences selling your parent's home. Please leave a comment below and don't forget to sign up for our email notification or bookmark our RSS Feed in your reader.
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